University Dally Kansan
Tuesday, October 23, 1979
Suicides . . .
3
From page one
Most student suicides occur between midnight and 6 a.m., and the most common method is the use of a firearm.
But these trends are based only on numbers. Suicide is not reserved for those who fit the statistical description.
"Suicide is an alternative that is available to every one of us," Bachman said.
WHATTEVER THE CAUSE and whoever the person, what Nearring calls a suicide “continuum” can quickly carry a student from depression to despondency.
Anyone—parents, friends, roommates—can use the tools of the professional counselor to break that continuum.
"You have to watch for the non-verbal signs," Mikkelson said. "In one case, a student started selling his clothes."
Residence hall advisers are taught to watch for those signs, which usually begin with social withdrawal and can also include
a lack of interest in school, excessive eating or drinking, starvation or vacillations in mood from despondency to frenetic cheerfulness.
If a person seems to be on the path to suicide, Mikkelson said, the residence hall advisers will "draw a net" around him.
They will try to involve the student in hail activities. They will help the help of other students to learn important life skills and friendly faces. And, if suicide accompanies imminent, they will not leave the student.
"Our staff has intervened in several cases and, I know, saved lives." Mikkelsen said. "In one case it meant going to a bridge and talkin' the person out of it."
EPSTEIN AND Bachman, at Headquarters, said several fallacies about suicides must be dispelled in order to help prevent such individuals more effectively.
"It is not a trial assumption that, because a person talks about it, he won't do it," Baichman said. "In one study, 80 percent of the patients who admitted surcaced suicide had talked about it before."
And, most often, if a person is thinking hard, it helps him lose out and calling him insulted. It instead, he might say, "I don't feel my life is worth it," or "How would they feel if I were gone?" Epstein
And once someone starts to confide his feelings, it is not a good idea to avoid mentioning suicide in the hope of dispelling the thought.
"You have to bring it up," Epstein said.
"You have to eventually say, Hey, are you thinking about killing yourself?" That will bring either a firm no or a sign of relief.
"Giving the person the opportunity to talk about it helps him deal with it."
AT KU, there is no dearth of professional
help. The people at KU Information Center are trained in crisis intervention and they can also refer a caller to a counselor 24 hours a day.
Headquarters and the Bert Nash Mental Health Center, 4th & Missouri streets, are open around the clock.
The University Counseling Center in Bedford Hall, the Psychological Clinic in Praise Hall, and the Mental Health Center in Twente Annex and the Mental Health Clinic at Walkins are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Wednesday).
Sorority Rush 1980 Registration Meeting
Bring your questions!
Rush will be held January 9-14, 1980.
BLOOD DRIVE
. . . continuing Today and Tomorrow 11:30-4:30 p.m.
Kansas Union Ballroom
Give according to appointments scheduled last week. Walk-ins are encouraged but should expect to wait.
Sponsored by: Panhellenic Assoc., Interfraternity Council, Assoc. of University Res. Halls, and Circle K Club